The Living Dead (Book 1): Contagion (18 page)

Signed by my hand on November 19, 1915

Lieutenant Burton Hayes, 13
^th
Marine Company

Researcher’s note: The “old man” referred to may have been either Major Smedley Butler or Captain Ramsey Campbell.

*Many consider the 1915 Marine invasion an early U.S. attempt at ‘nation building’ and, despite improvements in the country’s infrastructure, is considered a failure as such. Both the 13th and the 10th Marine divisions were disbanded shortly after this venture. Reinstated as companies in the 1920’s, details of their Fort Riviere expedition were evidently scrubbed from the record and do not appear in any accounts of the companies’ histories.

           
“Wow. That’s one little battle we never studied in school.”

            “Neither did we. Sounds like some form of this virus, or whatever it is, has existed for a long time. The original natives and probably later the Haitians, dealt with it in their own way. As long as too many people didn’t die at once, they could contain it by destroying the heads prior to burial. The earthquake caused so many deaths; it just got away from them. I found something on the internet about West African burial customs. They try to confuse their dead so they won’t come back home. They didn’t mention anything about cannibalism there though.”

            “Viruses, especially retroviruses, bind with their host’s DNA. The dining habits of the Carib were probably absorbed by the virus when it replicated using the Caribs’ cells.”

            “How do you know that? About retroviruses?”

            “AIDS is a retrovirus. All law enforcement officers have to sit through about a gazillion Health/ Safety procedure films and presentations on dealing with sick prisoners. Some of it sinks in. Retroviruses are fast too. They mutate constantly to confuse the body’s defense mechanisms. Of course we don‘t know this is a retrovirus but it could be.”

            “None of this helps us find a way to fight or cure this. All we can do is run from them or aim for the head.”

            “No, but scientists in a lab somewhere can work on drugs to control it, just like they did with AIDS.”

            “Are there any scientists left? Or working labs?”

            There was no answer to that. Virginia turned the radio on and scanned through the static. FM and AM bands were both voiceless still so they turned it off. She felt she had forgotten something she should have noticed. It came to her.

            “The state highway truck in front of the barrier! It was gone. We haven’t seen anything else on the road but I know it was there that first night we drove up there.”

            “It’s a reasonable assumption that there are other survivors around here. Someone needed it and took it. I can’t say I begrudge them.”

            “We have the keys.”

            “There are other ways to start a vehicle. We’ll keep an eye out for them but I wouldn’t worry about it.”

            They were still an hour and twenty minutes from Springfield but there were two scenic overlooks on the mountain road that gave expansive views of the town. Virginia felt her stomach clench in anticipation and fear of what they would see. Would it be the familiar, lovely little town in the valley, with pastureland and church spires or something else entirely? Daniel noticed the smoke first.

            “I smell a fire.”

            Poor visibility slowed them to a crawl as an indescribably noxious smell entered the Explorer. Smoke surrounded them. Turning on the headlights didn’t help and they were forced to stop. Virginia got the door open and climbed out just before she vomited on the ground. She remained on her knees and heard Charles walk around to her side of the vehicle. With every breath she drew the thick oily smoke nauseated her anew.

            “What is that smell?”

            “I’d rather not guess. We’re going to have to wait until this clears before we can go further. We’ll be safest inside the Explorer.” He helped her to her feet.

            They sat in uneasy silence. Charles took her hand and she left it there. The smell covered them; gagging them and stinging their eyes. Daniel vomited. Virginia gave him one of the bottled waters to rinse his mouth. She opened the door so he could spit and that’s when they heard it.

            Moans, faint first, then growing louder arose from the smoke all around them. They couldn‘t see anything. They locked the car doors and huddled inside. Daniel crawled into the front seat and buried his face in Virginia’s shoulder. Rotten, decaying hands beat on the windows. Faces, skin hanging in shreds, drifted in and out of view as the smoke billowed. An old woman pressed her toothless mouth against the glass and gnawed, blackened tongue licking at the window edge. The pounding on the vehicle grew more insistent as the crowd of dead grew.

            Virginia couldn’t stand anymore. “Daniel, get in the back and buckle up. We’re getting out of here.”

            The engine roared and they inched through the grasping, gibbering throng. Rotten and somehow frail looking their hunger drove them nevertheless and the walkers threw themselves at the vehicle. After what felt like a lifetime, they caught a glimpse of blue sky and then the metal guardrail girding the left side of the mountain road. They cautiously picked up speed and left the dead and the smoke behind.

            “What were they doing up here? I didn‘t know that many people lived in the area.” Charles continued to peer behind them.

            “I suspect they came from that new “one-level living” place. We should be able to see it right about now.” They drove slowly past the gates of a luxury retirement community. A sign declared, “Stone Mountain Villas, Active Living for Active Seniors.” A few elderly dead, some in golfing attire, roamed the streets inside the gates. The sound of the vehicle attracted them and they reached withered arms yearningly toward the road. They were not a serious threat, more to be pitied than feared.

            “They’re definitely active but probably not the way they’d planned.”

            Virginia was still nauseated from the lingering smoke. “Why didn’t you want to guess what‘s burning? Do you think the smoke is dangerous?”

            “Probably not dangerous. I worked a bad accident on the west side of Wells a few years ago when a sixteen year old drove her brand new car, full of her friends, right into a propane tank. That’s the only time I’ve ever smelled human bodies burning but you never forget it. ” They rounded a curve and pulled off on the first scenic overlook. Drifting layers of smoke obscured the valley. “This smells much worse. There’re a lot of bodies burning down there.”

            Virginia felt a jolt of fear and strained to see through the concealing smoke. Please God, she thought, let me find them alive and well. Please. The air felt warmer now and snow patches were sparse. They crested the mountain and headed downhill. Swerving around abandoned cars they reached the outskirts of town.

            Springfield was an old town, established in the glacier carved valley when extensive anthracite deposits were discovered in the area. Coal companies bought out the mineral rights from the few local landowners, quickly established a company store economy and built a shantytown, importing cheap immigrant and Negro labor. Then, in one of the few successful worker uprisings of the time, the miners demanded and got a nine hour work day, wages paid in actual currency, alternatives to company stores, and the right to measure the accuracy of the scales that weighed their carts at the end of the day. Blacks and whites stood side by side and insisted on their rights as human beings and it worked. A charming small city gradually replaced the coal shacks. The town was proud of its contentious past but the coal deposits were long exhausted and the mineshafts locked for over forty years. The natural beauty of the area remained and the town now boasted assorted retirement and golfing communities. A lake, gouged out of the earth when the glaciers retreated after the last ice age, attracted water sports enthusiasts, including anglers. The water looked choppy today and the few boats at the dock bobbed in the breeze.

            “Anna caught her first bluegill right over there.” Virginia pointed to a small pebbly beach bordered by birches and hemlocks. “She was so excited when she landed it and then cried when she found out it couldn’t breathe out of water. We threw it back.”

            “I know how to fish!” Daniel exclaimed. “Can we go fishing after we get her?”

            “We’ll see.” Virginia was suddenly terribly afraid of what she would find at her in-laws'. The nightmare she had in the attic was tormenting her and she fought down her fear. The smoke thickened again and they slowed down, unable to see more than a few feet in any direction.

            “We haven’t seen anyone yet, alive or otherwise. Do you think the town was abandoned?”

            Charles chose his words carefully when he replied. “Virginia, this town wasn’t abandoned. Like I said, there are a lot of bodies burning here. Someone had to organize a collection process. We should run into them soon and then we’ll-”

Virginia stomped the brakes as something hit the side of Explorer and they heard “Everyone out of the vehicle now!” 

Chapter 19

And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Job 1:7

            They complied but only after tucking handguns into the back of their waistbands, out of sight. Once out on the road, they still couldn’t see who had stopped them. Bandanas over their mouths and noses obscured their features. Charles raised his hands in response to the rifles trained on them but Virginia balanced Daniel on her hip and glared defiantly.

            “State your business here.”

            “We’re here to find my children. That’s all I want and as soon as we find them we’ll be out of your way.” Daniel began to cough.

            “What’s wrong with him? Have you been in close contact with any infected persons?”

            “Who hasn’t been in contact with the infected? The smoke is choking him. Other than that, he’s fine.”

            One of their interrogators offered a cloth from fingers tipped with chipped blue nail polish. Virginia took it and tied it over Daniel’s mouth and nose.

            “Thanks.”

            “You’re welcome. You should get him and yourselves out of here as soon as you can.”

            “We plan to. Can you tell me what happened here?” Charles held up his badge.

            The rifles went down. “The wind is changing again. Come this way but watch your step.” Tendrils of smoke swirled around them.

            “This way” took them into an elementary school office. Their hosts removed their jackets and bandanas. They introduced themselves as Riley and Shannon Dailey, father and daughter.

            “We were finishing up some checks outside the pit and we heard your engine. Where did you come from?”

            “Tunbridge Wells. I’m Virginia, this is Daniel.”

            “Charles McDonough.” Charles extended his hand. “I’m the town constable in Wells. The virus hit us hard and it’s taken us a week to get over the mountain. How bad is it here?”

            Riley sat down in a swivel office chair. He turned toward a map on the wall above the desk. “How bad? That bad.” He pointed to areas on the map marked “X” in thick black marker. “Someone started marking off areas that had cases of the virus when this first started. Do you see any clear areas? No? Right, because there aren’t any.”

            “What’s burning?”

            Shannon said something unintelligible and left the room. They heard sobs from down a hallway. Riley stood up then sat back down.

            “Just her mother and sister and most of the people she‘s known her entire life. We were hard hit too. Until the day before yesterday we were still hiding out and the dead filled the streets. When the Guardsmen showed up we thought for some reason everything would get back to normal. Looking back I don‘t know why we thought that but it was just so good to hear news from outside, to know that other people were still alive. Can‘t keep the old USA down right? Can‘t beat the Weekend Warriors.”

            “The national guard? Not the regular Army?”

            “No, most of these people came from the capitol. A few had been in other states and had come in to help our people finish up.”

            “Finish what up?”

            “Sterilization and decontamination. It’s probably colder up in Wells and you guys haven’t seen the rapid decay that we have. The infected are still mobile but with the warm up they’re rotting at an accelerated pace. It’s worse in other parts of the country, according to the guard. The millions of rotting dead are contaminating the environment. They’re releasing a bacterium that’s getting into the ground water. The majority of cities have no potable water supply anymore. The guard tested our tap water and it’s full of bacteria but we already knew something was wrong. Bottled water from before is worth more than gold right now.”

            “You said you already knew something was wrong with the water? How? We didn’t notice anything in the mountains.”

            A door opened and closed somewhere down the hallway. Shannon, eyes a little red, accompanied by a stocky young man in a Cubs sweatshirt, returned.

            “We’ve got two more Riley.”

            “Ok. See if Carolyn can get them trussed and we’ll load them. I don’t want the fire to die down if we can avoid it. Give me two minutes.” The man nodded and left. Shannon perched on the edge of the desk next to her dad and put an arm around his shoulder. He patted her hand.

            “You guys are welcome to leave anytime but I’d recommend waiting ‘til the smoke clears again. There are still infected out there. The guard helped us take out a lot but they’re still showing up. If you can spare a few more minutes I could use some help back here and I‘ll explain about the water.”

            A chilling scene greeted them in the small school gym. Cots and makeshift pallets littered the wooden floor. Some of the bodies that occupied them were grotesquely altered. A little girl, maybe five years old, had a concavity on her face that caused her eye to droop down almost to the side of her mouth. She broke into a heartbreakingly sweet smile when she saw Daniel and the motion caused her eye socket to flop to one side as the skin of her cheek closed around it. The smell of decay and unwashed bodies hung in the air along with the lingering tang of smoke.

            “We weren’t sure at first but the testing confirmed there are bacteria in the water. We think it’s causing the infections. It starts with chills and then we’re seeing infected boils. The victims don’t always survive but do better if the boil bursts and drains. We’re experimenting with lancing but you have to do it at the right time. The bacteria is actually eating into cartilage and bone structure and the bio guy with the Guard said it‘s the same bacteria they cultured from the rotted tissue of the dead.”

            Similar facial deformities marked several others. One man’s arm hung uselessly at his side but he used his good hand to wipe the brow of an elderly woman who groaned in pain and clawed at her chest. Near a set of fire doors, two bodies lay trussed in twine.

            Virginia took the feet of the first body and Shannon grabbed the shoulders. Charles held the door open and they loaded it onto a four wheel ATV waiting outside. The second body was heavier and they had to drag it. Some of the twine fell away, an arm swung free and Virginia saw a black, rotted cavity revealing part of a lung and heart underneath blackened ribs. They heaved it onto the ATV.

            “When the boils form too near vital organs, we tend to lose them.” Charles shuddered and his arm twitched in its sling. “The Guard helped us get a designated burn area started. This is biological warfare on a massive scale.” Riley called across the room “Thanks Carolyn, we’ll be on our way now” before driving away into the smoke.

            Virginia looked to see if this Carolyn might be her mother-in-law but saw a tired looking black haired woman in blue scrubs who gave her a little wave. She smiled and waved back then walked over. Dread and fear made it hard to speak but she swallowed hard and asked, “Do you know the Dares? Dan and Carolyn?”

            “The names sound familiar but if you’re asking me if I’ve seen them, I can’t say.”

            “They’re in their sixties, gray hair and would’ve had two children with them. A two year old boy and five year old girl. Have you seen anyone like that?”

            The look Carolyn gave her was full of compassion. “Yes, but not living. We’ve disposed of so many dead, some in such bad shape, determining identity would be practically impossible without a forensics team. I’m sorry I can’t help you.”

            A man nearby began to sob, cradling a small, limp body close to his chest. The little girl’s silvery hair hung down like a bright banner. Virginia turned away. Across the room, the young man in the Cubs shirt spoke to Charles animatedly. Charles caught her eye and motioned her over.

            “…everywhere. They’ve limited the scope of their mission to clean up/decontamination for now. We’re better off here than in the big cities. They‘re going to the rail depot in Salinas to pick up supplies, including antibiotics. They'll be back through in a few days. We’re hoping the meds will kick this bacterium.”  He gestured at the sick surrounding them then continued. “Atlanta is on fire. The whole city, I kid you not, and they don’t have any plans to put it out. The commander said they’ve been to five towns in three days and bulldozed out burn pits in everyone of ‘em. This smoke is going to be with us awhile.”

            “Did they know anything about the rest of the country? Is the federal government still functioning?”

            “They think so but it’s probably not based in DC anymore. That’s on fire too, or was. States and sometimes just cities are handling their own problems now. It seems to be working better. They said they’ll be back by in a few days and might have more information for us then. You know what else? They had plenty of guns and ammo as far as we could tell but they‘re not using ‘em much. They‘re using axes, picks, baseball bats, and I swear a couple were using swords to take down the walkers. They said it just worked better when the numbers weren‘t overwhelming”

            Virginia looked up at the high windows at the top of the wall where a grimy charcoal coating didn’t completely block the view of black smoke billowing in the sky. Her gaze drifted to the gym floor and its occupants. So this was the aftermath: children permanently maimed and crippled, a contaminated world lacking drinkable water and basic medical care and supplies. Everyone looked tired and hungry and disheveled. One woman wore gumboots with a bathrobe. She felt a desperate urge to get out of here and wished the smoke would clear.

            “It’s a low tech solution and it’ll be slow going but what choice do we have? You can’t bomb ‘em; there’s no guarantee the heads would be destroyed. Flamethrowers are impractical and not readily available anyway. Headshots are difficult for most people unless they’re pretty close up already. This mess is long term.” Charles looked grim.

            “The walkers and this disease aren’t the only threat anymore. Gangs are on the move, especially in Texas and California and the rest of the southwest. They took advantage of the situation early in the outbreak and now control entire towns.” The young man shook his head. “We’re going to have to reclaim our own country from the gangs
and
the dead.”

            Virginia asked, “Do you know the Dares? Dan and Carolyn?”

            “No, sorry. Do they live in town?”

            “Just outside. They have about ten acres to the east. Did the National Guard head that way after they left?”

            “Yeah but they aren‘t stopping at individual houses. The Dares, are they your family?”

            “They’re my in-laws and my children are with them.”

            “I hope you find them safe and well.”

            “Thanks, me too.”

            At a sudden scream, they all grabbed their guns. Across the gym, the father who had been sobbing and holding his daughter earlier now held a hand to his bleeding neck as he backed away from his growling little girl. She hissed,  teeth, lips and chin red with blood as she bit the hands and arms he held up to ward her off.

            “Please baby, it’s Daddy! Stop it.” He tried to take her in his arms and she sank her teeth into the fleshy web of flesh between his thumb and index finger, tearing free and swallowing the dripping mouthful greedily before going in for another bite. With bloodied hands, he tried to hold her silvery head still and she tore into his wrist, blood raining onto her cherubic face. Her father slumped on the floor, still weakly fending her off.

            Carolyn, grabbing a shovel, walked over and knocked the child four feet into the wall. The father grabbed her leg but she shook him off and smashed the girl’s face, causing a sickening crunch as her skull cracked and she slid, inert, to the floor. Carolyn walked back to the father.

            “You lying sack of garbage! You told us she wasn’t bit. You endangered everyone in here.” She hit him on the head with the bloody shovel while he scrambled on all fours, trying to get away. She smacked him a couple of more times before the stocky young man went to her assistance, shooting the man in the head twice. Several people in the gym protested. Carolyn took the body by the legs and dragged him to the doors. She threw the little girl’s body on top then turned to address the crowd.